


The Beatles Unreleased. Hit me back

by Erwinnitall



Category: The Beatles (Band)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:07:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24285595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Erwinnitall/pseuds/Erwinnitall
Summary: In between Sergeant Peppers and the White Album the Beatles found time to record yet another album which they named 'the Unreleased' (because it was put in a vault and locked away until now). Today the review of the second song on the A-side; John's 'Hit me Back'.
Collections: The Beatles





	The Beatles Unreleased. Hit me back

**Hit me Back**

Lennon / McCartney

I guess you never saw it coming

Must have been a hit ‘n run

The hand flashed out 

You hit the ground

I left the scene

And you never got to hit me back

Never saw your upset expression

And it haunts me every night

Still hear the sound

When you hit the ground

I can’t come clean

Because you never got to hit me back

Hit me, won’t you hit me

But please be gentle

I’m so afraid to hit the ground

Hit me, let’s get even

But please be gentle

‘Cause I’m so afraid to hit the ground

It must have been the wild years soaring

Cause I never used to pick a fight

It just snapped, I found

And you hit the ground

And still never got to hit me back

(Auld lang syne)

Hit me, won’t you hit me

But please be gentle

I’m so afraid to hit the ground

Hit me, let’s get even

But please be gentle

‘Cause I’m so afraid to hit the ground

_John Lennon - vocals, guitar, mouth organ_

_Paul McCartney - backing vocals, bass guitar_

_George Harrison - backing vocals, lead guitar_

_Ringo Star - drums, additional percussion, tambourine_

_Lothian &; Borders Police Pipe band - bagpipes_

So, Aunt Rosie finally got her milk and we’re through to the next song. Another Lennon/McCartney cooperation but this time mainly from the hand of John. Now, before we get into the music part I first want to say something about the lyrics. There’s something intriguing there. Hit me back. Obviously we all want to look for a deeper meaning into the lyrics by our favorite artists and sometimes that’s just chasing after castles in the sky. It’s just not there. But, in this case, things look a bit differently. 

Let’s just assume that there is a kernel of truth to these lyrics. We then have to see it all from the point of the singer and that will be John. He’s talking about how he hits somebody, almost out of the blue, as if in a rage. The person is floored and doesn’t have a chance to hit John back. So, basically, a one blow fight. In the third verse there’s also the phrase ‘Must have been the wild years soaring’. Now we can all understand that life in the Beatles in itself is pretty wild, but John might just be referring to his childhood and adolescent years that were, to put it mildly, very rough indeed. Anybody who’s a bit familiar with the upbringing of John Lennon understands what I’m aiming at. But another question still stands. Who was it that got hit by John

Here we have two candidates. And both are (former and present) bandmembers to the accused. The first one went by the name of Stuart Sutcliffe and was known as the fifth Beatle. He was in Hamburg with the guys during the German years and died of a cerebral haemorrhage caused by a serious blow or kick to the head. He was just 21 years old. The general story about his death (as told by former manager Allan Williams) was that he got the blow in a brawl outside a bar in Liverpool. Pete Best and John Lennon came to his rescue (Lennon breaking his finger in doing so…) and managed to get him away. But the fatal blow had already been delivered. This is the official story. Sutcliffes' sister has another version though. In that story John Lennon is the culprit. In her opinion John had issues with his temper and could be very aggressive towards whomever happened to be around him at the wrong moment. Her theory is based on events in the lives of both artists and, in her own words, backed up by evidence in the notebooks of her late brother. 

(editorial note: For more information: <https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/fifth-beatle-died-after-fight-with-lennon-sister-claims-95936.html>)

[ ](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IeYsUMOx3rY/XrxRGSXYQpI/AAAAAAAAO9I/Y05q2MpPFboXeuO9cXrwZaZ_3ZfJi58OgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screenshot%2B2020-05-13%2Bat%2B21.55.57.png)

The other candidate to John’s blow is no other than Paul McCartney himself. If you have seen the biographical drama film ‘Nowhere boy’ from 2009, you are familiar with the sequence. John has just established a relationship with his mother Julia after living all of his life, unto then, with his aunt Mimi. It’s a turbulent phase where difficult questions are being tackled, there’s anger after letdowns and abandonment, there’s joy of newfound love and acceptance, there’s grief and a whole arsenal of other emotions flying back and forth in the head of a pretty unstable adolescent at the core. Then comes the moment that in the midst of developing deeper relationships with both his mother and his aunt, his mother is ripped away from him and dies in an accident. The funeral and especially the social event afterwards of having to meet with everybody with some kind of relationship to him or his mother becomes overwhelming and too much to handle. In a series of events that lead up to a rage with the Beatle to be, he rushes out, is being stopped by Paul and in a flash he hits Paul in the face. Paul goes down and John, immediately regretful, picks him up, hugs him and let’s go of his anger and weeps. Well, there you have your two contestors. Who John refers to, if he truly does that at all, we'll never know. There was nothing in the material from the vault, or from statements from Paul, for instance, that provided any evidence in this matter.

[ ](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K5I8qgVFvSA/XrxRNda_2EI/AAAAAAAAO9M/XfR5gH3VrV44lAHNBGGcaDEBANo5e3pFwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screenshot%2B2020-05-13%2Bat%2B21.56.46.png)

As you can understand from the text, the music is intense. It can’t be otherwise. There’s a beat and anger in it that is portrayed by the raw singing (almost shouting at times) by John. The ‘Hit me’ bits in the chorus are given extra strength by the entrance of Paul and George as backing vocals. (So if Paul really was the subject of the song, you could say that, by him singing that line in the chorus, he asked for it…) If you want to get the feel of this song you would have to turn to other Beatle songs like ‘Come together’ or ‘Get back’ or even maybe ‘I want you / She’s so heavy’. It’s with that intensity that the words and the lines of this song are blasted through your system. The rawness of it all is perfectly underlined by John’s mouth organ bits in between the verses and leading up to the chorus. 

And then there is this subtle touch of brilliance where suddenly a bagpipe band comes into the song playing the well known ‘let’s stay friends forever’ song Auld Lang syne. It is as if John stretches out his hand to whoever it is he knocked down and says ‘Sorry mate. Let’s forget all about it and start afresh. Friends?...’ The way that this instrumental bit is intertwined with the rest of the song is all the more reason to lift our hats to George Martin and crew. It fits like hand in glove. ****

Number two on the A side. After the glad, happy and uplifting Aunt Rosie now we have a serious case of anger, aggression and a bittersweet ending. That’s already quite a lot of ticked boxes after two songs. I am not disappointed and I promise you, you won’t be either.

Tomorrow, after Paul and John, it’s George’s turn. Be back!

Gaelwin von Preder

Rolling Stone Magazine


End file.
